Senate panel to order social media CEOs to testify

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel has moved to compel testimony from the CEOs of social media giants Facebook, Google and Twitter, as lawmakers opened a new front in rhetorical battles over hate speech, misinformation and perceived political bias on internet platforms a month before the presidential election.

The Senate Commerce Committee voted Thursday to authorize subpoenas for Facebook CEOMark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, to force them to appear at a planned hearing if they don’t agree to do so voluntarily.

The committee’s unanimous vote marked the start of a new bipartisan initiative against Big Tech companies, which have been under increasing scrutiny and pressure in Washington and from state attorneys general over issues of competition, consumer privacy and hate speech.

With President Donald Trump in the lead, conservative Republicans have kept up a barrage of criticism of Silicon Valley’s social media platforms, which they accuse without evidence of deliberately suppressing conservative views. The Justice Department has asked Congress to roll back long-held legal protections for online platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter, putting down a legislative marker in Trump’s drive against the social media giants. The proposed changes would strip some bedrock protections that have generally shielded the companies from legal responsibility for what people post.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this year challenging the protections from lawsuits under a 1996 telecommunications law that have served as the foundation for unfettered speech on the internet.

The three CEOs are being summoned to testify as the Justice Department moves toward antitrust action against Google. Lawmakers and consumer advocates accuse Google of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and boost its profits.

A bipartisan coalition of 50 U.S. states and territories, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also has been investigating Google’s business practices. They have cited “potential monopolistic behavior.”